Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan elected to Security Council

The 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly in the last week of May 2017 elected Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan.

The countries will serve on the world body’s Security Council for a period of two years, starting from 1 January 2017.

After rounds of voting at the United Nation Headquarters in New York, only one non-permanent Council seat remains to be filled.

Italy and the Netherlands had been vying for the remaining seat. However, the voting yielded no clear winner. The two countries then suggested sharing the two-year term, each with a one-year period.

At the election, the General Assembly members voted by secret ballot for five seats divided by geographical grouping: two from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, two from the Western Europe and Others Group, and one from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Bolivia and Ethiopia were chosen by their regional groups and had no competitors. Kazakhstan won the seat reserved for Asia Pacific against Thailand, while Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden had competed for two seats for Western Europe.

The newly-elected countries will replace Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Angola and Venezuela.

About United Nations Security Council

• The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.

• It is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security as well as accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its United Nations Charter.

• Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions.

• The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946.

• Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created following World War II to address the failings of a previous international organization, the League of Nations, in maintaining world peace.

• The Security Council has 15 members, including five permanent. The five permanent members, each with the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.